Then-President Donald Trump speaks to the media after signing a bill for border funding in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 1, 2019. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images) Donald Trump
By Jack Phillips April 2, 2021 Updated: April 2, 2021 biggersmallerPrint
Former President Donald Trump, in a new interview on Thursday, accused Facebook and other tech giants of engaging in “total censorship” after his interview with Lara Trump for her podcast was taken down by Facebook.
“What’s happening now in this country, nobody ever thought would happen,” he told Dr. Gina Loudon in an interview. “It is total censorship.”
“You don’t have free speech in this country. But you know what happens, they take it off and now people talk about it more,” he said, describing the video that was taken down as a “very nice interview” with Lara Trump, his daughter-in-law.
A source close to the Trump Organization earlier this week confirmed to The Epoch Times that Facebook took down Lara Trump’s interview with the former commander-in-chief 20 minutes after it was posted on Tuesday. Facebook has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Lara Trump on Wednesday posted screenshots that purportedly show an email from a Facebook representative saying that the video was removed because it “featured President Trump speaking” and the “voice of Donald Trump.”
“In line with the block we placed on Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, further content posted in the voice of Donald Trump will be removed and result in additional limitations on the accounts,” the alleged email said.
After the Jan. 6 capitol incident, Trump was suspended by Twitter, Facebook, Google, and other platforms, who alleged that the president’s speech to supporters incited violence. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Trump’s ban because he used “our platform to incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government.”
Later, a Twitter executive said in an interview that Trump’s ban would be permanent.
Trump, during several recent interviews, said he prefers not to use Twitter, where he had amassed 80 million followers, and said the social media website is hemorrhaging users because it’s too “boring.” Advisers to the former president said they would be launching a new social media website in the coming weeks, although details about the platform are scant.
